Random thoughts on almost anything and everything, with an emphasis on defense, intelligence, politics and national security matters..providing insight for the non-cleared world since 2005.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Another Story You Won't See in the MSM

From today's Washington Times: FISA Judges Say Bush Within Law. A panel of five former FISA court judges told the Senate Judiciary Committee that President Bush did not act illegally when he authorized the expanded NSA domestic surveillance program.

Judge Allan Kornblum, one of the authors of the 1978 FISA law, said the president would be "remiss" in his duties if he ceded approval authority for all domestic surveillance to the FISA court:

"If a court refuses a FISA application and there is not sufficient time for the president to go to the court of review, the president can under executive order act unilaterally, which he is doing now," said Judge Allan Kornblum, magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida and an author of the 1978 FISA Act. "I think that the president would be remiss exercising his constitutional authority by giving all of that power over to a statute." Keep working on that censure resolution, Senator Feingold. Given yesterday's testimony from the former FISA judes (and opinions from other legal scholars) you may be the only person in Washington who believes the Bush Administration actually broke the law. That position may help you tie up the Daily Kos/liberal kook vote, but it won't work with millions of Americans who want the government to do all it can to protect us from terrorists.